LOS ANGELES: In a society otherwise marked by gentle formality and good manners, the Japanese crime syndicates known as the yakuza have for decades been linked to murder, money laundering, racketeering and pornography.

In recent years, they have expanded to lucrative real estate and stock market scams, according to Japanese media reports and yakuza experts.

The yakuza, slang for the losing hand in a card game, includes an estimated 85,000 organised crime members and associates.

Many Japanese still consider yakuza members cult heroes who openly flout the rules in this restrained society. There are fan magazines and internet sites that track the love affairs and leadership changes of a colorful crime culture that in the past has featured elaborate tattoos, severed digits and fancy cars.

Some yakuza members carry their affiliation on business cards and maintain informal links to police and politicians. There are even yakuza public relations drives: One syndicate bragged that it distributed millions in aid to survivors of the 1995 Kobe, Japan, earthquake. The gangsters hold regular business meetings, where police monitor them as they come and go.

By far, the biggest syndicate is the Yamaguchi-gumi, a Kobe-based group that experts say includes nearly half the mobsters in Japan.

In recent years, the Yamaguchi-gumi has staked out turf in Tokyo, setting off a series of gang wars.—Dawn/ The LAT-WP News Service (c) Los Angeles Times